Rescuers began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone - alive or dead - who might have been left behind in Harvey's fetid floodwaters, which have now damaged more than 87,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide.

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Could the flood levels lower?

Officials said flood waters are expected to be gone from most of Houston and Harris County by late Friday or early Saturday.

Jeff Lindner, meteorologist for the Harris County Flood Control District, said Harvey flooded an estimated 136,000 structures in Harris County, or 10 percent of all structures in the county database. He called that a conservative estimate.

Lindner said 70 percent of the county's land mass, or about 1300 square miles, was submerged by at least 1½ feet of water. The heaviest rainfall recorded in Harris County was 47.4 inches on Clear Creek at Interstate 45 in the southeastern part of the county, near the NASA Johnson Space Center.

He said there has been a very slight fall in the waters of Buffalo Bayou, which flows past downtown Houston into the Houston Ship Channel, but flood waters remain in the residential areas on the margins of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs that control flooding on Buffalo Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel. Col. Lars Zetterstrom, commander of the Galveston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says they remain full but that their water pools have lowered very slightly.

Zindner said the reservoirs will take three months to fully drain after 35 to 40 inches of rain fell on their watershed.

Zetterstrom says that the Addicks and Barker dams are withstanding their load well.

Going door-to-door

Houston firefighters finished the first of six areas where they went door-to-door checking for anyone left behind in the Harvey flooding.

Fire Chief Sam Pena said firefighters hope to complete the checks in all six areas on Friday. He did not say whether anyone was found dead or alive.

Deputy Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said police have received 30 reports of missing people since Harvey began and have found 11 of those. He says authorities believe most of the remaining 19 have lost the means to communicate and are either in shelters or otherwise safe. He cautioned not to assume they are dead: "It doesn't mean the worst." The death toll from Harvey so far is 32.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said areas on the east and west sides of the city are still dealing with flooding issues, but the rest of Houston is "drying out and drying out well" and traffic is returning to the streets.

Turner said Houston is "turning the corner," with the number of people decreasing in city emergency shelters. He expects to move people from the Toyota Center downtown to the nearby George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday. The convention center, which once housed 10,000 people at one point, sheltered about 8,000 late Thursday.

Death toll rises above 31

Officials said a 61-year-old Southeast Texas woman has become the 32nd person confirmed to have died in Texas because of Harvey.

Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles said Clementine Thomas died Wednesday afternoon when the car she was driving was swept from Texas 87 south of Newton, about 60 miles northeast of Beaumont.

In a statement Thursday, Rowles said witnesses reported that several people risked their lives to rescue Thomas but were unsuccessful. Her body was recovered Thursday afternoon.

Fire at chemical plant extinguished

An official said the fire is out at a chemical plant near Houston but they are monitoring the site for more blazes.

Explosions and fires rocked the flood-crippled Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby early Thursday. The plant's owners warned more explosions could follow because a loss of refrigeration was causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn.

Rachel K. Moreno, spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal, said the fire that began early Thursday in a trailer at the plant went out around noon. She said there are eight other trailers on the site that they are monitoring.

Moreno said her agency was notified Tuesday morning about the facility's power outage, which they believe it was caused by flooding.

Moreno said any decision to enter the facility is up to the company, not first responders. Fire and police are maintaining the 1.5 mile buffer indefinitely.

She said they are also uncertain about the water levels at the facility because they aren't sending first responders beyond the buffer zone.

She said 200 residents were evacuated over the past 48 hours.

Law enforcement to crack down on illegal activity during Harvey

Law enforcement officials from the federal government and Texas and Louisiana have formed a working group to investigate and prosecute illegal activity related to Hurricane Harvey.

Houston-based Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez says storm victims already have suffered devastation and "the last thing that victims of the damage need is to be victimized again."

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Authorities say bringing about a dozen agencies together into a single focused group is an optimal way to address calls they're already getting about scams in the wake of Harvey. Those calls are going to relevant agencies.

He says they're also employing lessons learned from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and will bring "a comprehensive law enforcement focus" against illegal activities.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton says there's no place for fraud or shady practices in rebuilding Texas and Louisiana.

Running out of gas?

The head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry is urging people to wait three or four days to fill their cars and trucks with gasoline if they can.

Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said Thursday that people are panicking and that's causing a run on gas and empty fuel pumps.

He says there is plenty of gas in Houston and elsewhere, but there are logistical problems of making sure all of the stations are getting it.

He says he doesn't think it will be an issue a week from now as long as people stay calm and fill up their tanks as they normally would.

Pence visits as Trump pledges to donate $1 million

President Trump is expected to donate around $1 million to the relief funds for Harvey.

According to the White House, the president is personally donating “probably $1 million to disaster relief. He hasn’t picked an organization yet.”

Vice President Mike Pence said the nation has been inspired by the resilience of Texans dealing with the storm damage from Harvey.

Pence joined with state and local officials and community members in Rockport, Texas, which was severely damaged by the storm. The vice president spoke outside First Baptist Church, where a side of the building was blown out by the storm.

Pence said the Trump administration is “with you and we will stay with you until Rockport and all of southeast Texas come back.”

Karen Pence, the vice president’s wife, led the attendees in a prayer.

The vice president was joined by several Cabinet members and shook hands and greeted people outside the storm-damaged church.